Improvement in balances



H. A. CLUM.

Spring Scales.

No. 46,992. Patented March 28, 1865.

ilillllll' N. PETERS, Pmemhngmpher. wnhnmn. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OiErrcE.;

HENRY A. OLUM, OF ROCHESTER, NE\V YORK,

IMPROVEMENT IN BALANCES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 46,992, dated March 2S,1365.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. OLUM, of the city of Rochester, county ofMonroe, and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Scalefor Weighing Purposes of every Description5 and I do hereby declare thatthe following is a full, clear, and exact description of theconstruction and operation of the same, reference being had to theannexed drawings, making a part of this specification, in which- Figurel is a side eleva-tion of myimproved scale5 Fig. 2, a longitudinalcentral vertical section thereof, showing the structure ot' the cistern,the plunger, the spiral spring, the plunger-rod, the angular arm, thelever, the tie-bar, the rack and pinion, the spring, the platform-shaft,the platform, the steadyinglever, and the regulating-ball5 Eig. 3, aplan or top view ofthe same with the platform removed, showing thearrangement of the fulcrum-link and its bearings, Fig. 4, a transversecentral vertical section of the dial-frame, showing the rack, thepinion, with the bearings ot the same, the structure of the dials, andhands or pointers.

Likeletters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thefigures.

The nature of my invention consists in the use of mercury orquicksilver, by its progressive displacement, either alone or incombination with a spiral spring, for the weighing of commodities, asrepresented in drawings, in which- A represents the frame; a a a, theupright portions or standards; B, the cistern portion of the same; b,the cistern-top screwed tight upon it; (l, the plunger, with its rod cscrewed tightly into its top; D, the spiral sprin g,restin g upon ashoulder or jamb formed by the enlargement of the cistern in its middleportion 5 E, the upright angular arm by which the plunger is forced intothe mercury; F, the lever; G, the tie-bar, by the use of which theangular arm E is made to move per pendicularly; H, the steadying-lever,by the use of which the platform-shaft I is kept in an upright position5 J, the platform for heavy weights; K, the dial-frame5 L, the permanentor annular dial, M, the index or movable dial; N, the hand 5 o, the knobby which the indexdial is turned; I?, the rack5 Q, the pinion, havingupon its extreme bea-rings the hands 5 R, the fulcrum of lever, S, thefulcrum of tiebar; T T, knife-edge or pivot bearings at front end oflever and tie-bar into the upright angular arm 5 U, the point in angulararm through which the plunger-rod c is screwed 5 V, the disk or bowl forlight weights 5 W, regulating-ball screwed upon an arm p 'iojecting fromcross-bar of lever5 X, joint of rack and lever; Y, spring by which therack is pressed against the pinion 5 Z e, joints of steadying-lever withthe frame and platformshaft.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

I construct the scale stand or frame of any suitable metal, ironpreferred, in any form that will admit of the necessary appliances,supplying the same with a cistern, B, into which I. place a plunger, O,which can be made of any material that mercury will not corrode, woodpreferred, having the plunger-rod o securely screwed into its upper end.The plunger is supplied with a flange, j', at its upper end7 or anydevice that will serve the same end, which is designed to rest upon thespiral spring D. The object of this spring is to aid the mercury inresisting the downward movement ofthe plunger, as the weight upon thescale increases, imparting to the scale greater capacity and economy ofmercurya It will be observed, however, that the plunger does not restupon the spring when the scale is unoccupied, but is at rest a smallspace above it, as seen in Fig. 2. The object of this is to se cure tothe scales the capacity for determining light weights, up to a certainmeasure-say in a nity-pound scale one poundwhich by the simpledisplacement of the mercury in the cistern, which also poises the leveror beam, is readily accomplished. As the weight upon the scaleincreases, the plunger in its downward motion consumes the space forlight weights, rests upon the spiral spring coiled in the upper portionof the cistern, and is iesisted thereby, the mercury at the same timeacting conjointly with it. By this means even a small scale can be madeto serve for heavy weights without the inconvenience of changing weightsor poisesu The upper end of plunger-rod c is screwed into the horizontalend of the upright angular arm E, at U, having iixed upon its upper enda small disk or bowl, V, designed for letters or any other lightweights. This second disk or bowl, however,- is not an essential portionof the scale, and its application is discretionary.

The lever F, which is similar to ordinary scale-beams, has its fulcrumin standard a, as seen at It, Fig. 1, with its link-connections similarto ordinary counter-scales, and its front end Xed upon knife-edges orpivots in the angular arm at T. The tie-bar has its fulcrum directlybelow that of the lever, as seen at S S, Figs. 1 and 2, with its frontend also upon pivots, pins, or knife-edges in the angular arm, as seenalso at T, below the levercon nectiou. Thelever and tie-bar, movingparallel to each other, together secure theperpendicular motion of theangular arm, the plunger-rod c, and plungerau important element in theinstrument.

The platform J is fixed upon its shaft I and its link substantially likeordinary scales, as also is the steadying-lever H. y

The lever'F has a rack attached to it, as seen at X, Fig. 2, also aspring, Y, which together are carried upward and downward with the leverin the use of the scale, and serve to turn the pinion Q, having a handat the extremity of each bearin g, moving upon the dials, as seen at N,Fig. 1.

The dials, or one of them, arecomposed of two separate pieces. One isiixed and annular, as seen at L, Figs. l and 4, and the other, anindex-disk, is smaller and moves upon the larger, as seen at M, Fig. l.This dial moves freely upon an axis, 7L, as seen in center ofcompounddial, Fig. 4, and turns completely around, and is graduated,like the larger aunular dial, upon which it moves, with the addition ofbackward readings, as will be seen in drawings.

The axis h of the movable index-dial M, being a hollow screw-bolt withnut h, or it may be a pinion, as seen in Fig. 5, at h on thc inside, bywhich it is secured, forms a-lso one of the boxes for the bearings ofthehandpinion Q, as plainly shown in drawings, Figs. 2 and 4, Q being thepinion. The object of this compound dial is to secure the readierdetermination of weights, requiring no particular exercise of memory orfiguring, and is used follows, e. g.: A person wishes to purchase acrock of butter. He places the empty crock upon the platform of thescales, which carries the hand forward to a certain point, where it willrest. Now turn the dial M, either by the knob o, or, incase the dial iscovered with glass, by means of a semicircular rack, t', lever l, andpinion l1., mounted upon the inside of the permanent dial. The pinion,being the nut of the bolt g, is in this case together secured rigidly tothe movable dial M, and move together, as shown in Fig.

5, the arm of the lever passing through a slot in the dial-frame,admitting sufficient sweep to turn the index-dial quite around, untilits 0 (zero) comes to the point indicated by the hand,` as shown in redlines, Fig. 1. Now ll the crock and place it again upon the scale, andthe hand which has gone back to its former position will again moveforward, passing the 0 upon the small index-dial to a farther point.vupon the large annular dial, and the weight of the butter upon the smallindex-dial.

Again,'let the person wish to sell a crock of butter. Place the filledcrock upon the scale. The hand will move forward, indicating the entirewei gh t, read from O upon the large dial. Bring the 0 upon the smalldial to the point indicated by the hand, let it remain, empty the crock,and place it again upon. the scale. The position of the hand now readupon the large annular dial will indicate the weight ol' v the emptycrock, while at the same time it will indicate the weight of the butterupon the small index-dial, read from its 0 backward.

The hand N is carried by rack and pinion, having a light steel springpressing against the rack to prevent vibration of the hand.

The dial can also be mounted directly above and upon the cistern,dispensing with the small disk for light weights,the rack attached tothe upper end of the plunger-rod c, which would be carried upward anddownward in the use of the scales, perpendicular] y, carrying the pinionand hands, thus dispensing with the use of the spring Y altogether.Thusthe erecting of the dial upon the standards t or cistern B isdiscretionary.

In order to secure safety in transportation, the cistern-top can bepacked with leather orl rubber. A piece of the saine can also be xedupon the top of the plunger, around the rod c, which, when keyed orscrewed tightly up against the cistern-top, will prevent leakage.

Should the scale by some accident lose its equipoise, it can be againeasily restored by the use ot' regulating-ball WV, similar to otherscales. Y

Now, I do not claim the use of mercury as a poise, nor as a dead-weight,the same having been used before, nor do I claim the spiral spring as.such; but

What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by LettersPatent,.is

The use of a spiral spring, in combination with the plunger and mercury,in order toimpart increased capacity to scales capable of determininglight weights, substantially as herein set forth.

HENRY A. C'LUM.

lWitn esscs:

Tnos. MoULsoN, PHILIP I. CLUM.

The entire weight will be indicated

